Grey Fox, Metal Gear Cosplay Costume

• Novelizations
A novel based on the original Metal Gear was published in 1988 as a part of Scholastic's Worlds of Power line-up of novelizations created by FX Nine based on third-party NES games. It was written by Alexander Frost. The Metal Gear novelization is not based on the game's actual storyline (as Kojima was not involved in the production of the book), but rather on Konami of America's localization of the plot (as depicted on the game's manual). The book takes even further liberties by giving Solid Snake the name of Justin Halley (since refuted by Metal Gear Solid) and by changing the name of Snake's unit from FOXHOUND to the "Snake Men". Since the books were aimed at younger readers, Snake doesn't kill anyone and only uses his handgun once to destroy a lock. The cover artwork was airbrushed to remove Snake's gun.
In Japan, a Metal Gear gamebook was published on March 31, 1988, shortly after the release of the Famicom version as part of the Konami Gamebook Series, set two years after the events of the original Metal Gear.
A novelization based on Metal Gear Solid, written by Raymond Benson, the author of nine James Bond novels, was published in 2008. A novelization of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, also written by Benson, was published the next year. Critical reaction to Benson's novelizations has generally been positive, with Bookgasm.com writing of Metal Gear Solid, "Benson does a fine job translating the game to the page", and MishMashMagazine.com calling Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty "a great companion to the game". A Japanese-language novelization of Guns of the Patriots by Project Itoh was published on June 12, 2008.